Press Releases, 1/12/2018 | Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland

This is FINLAND Magazine 2018–2019 turns its eyes to the next 100 years

Press release 3/2018
12 January 2018

Following Finland's centenary celebrations, This is FINLAND Magazine 2018–2019, the annual English-language publication showcasing Finnish expertise and experts, is turning its gaze far ahead into the future.

The magazine, which is distributed at Finland's missions and especially in potential export markets and at export events through the Team Finland network, describes what the future may look like. It presents Finnish artificial intelligence expertise in fields such as healthcare and education, explains what Linda Liukas, Finland's ambassador of coding, thinks about technology as a medium of self-expression, and introduces the basic income trial and its impact on the life of the participants.

The other theme chosen by the magazine is Finnish daily life, the best in the world. Anu Partanen, the author of The Nordic Theory of Everything, explains in her column what smooth daily life is like and Finnish people tell about their everyday sources of joy. We also investigated how people who have moved to Finland from abroad find Finnish working life.

How does Finland succeed in providing top-level education, a safe society and good opportunities for combining work and free time? It is all thanks to our education system, which teaches the Finns to solve problems at both local and global levels, writes Olli-Pekka Heinonen, Director General of the Finnish National Agency for Education.

The publication is targeted at international readers and aims at providing inspiring perspectives on Finnish expertise, innovations, education and way of life, as part of country branding. The magazine is distributed globally through the distribution channels of the editorial board and will also be published in German, French, Spanish, Chinese and Russian in March.

”Versatile tools are required in practical country branding. When we meet people in person, it is often not enough just to give them a web address that they can go to. We have to be able to offer something more concrete and in several languages," says Petra Theman, Director of the Unit for Public Diplomacy from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. "I am especially grateful and proud that we have been able to produce this publication together with the expert organisations representing Finnish know-how and innovations.”

This is FINLAND Magazine is published by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Business Finland, the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra and the Finnish National Agency for Education. Otavamedia OMA is responsible for the production of the magazine.